The present invention is directed to a moisture sensor and more particularly a moisture sensor for use in drying grain.
Moisture sensors are known in the art and are used in part to measure the moisture of grain as it enters, and more typically, leaves a grain dryer. Use of a moisture sensor with a grain dryer is important as it permits automatic adjustments that cause the dryer to run faster or slower to obtain a desired moisture content of the grain.
While valuable, there remain issues with present moisture sensors. As an example, to protect a circuit board, a two-part gel is heated at a high temperature in order to set up. The high temperature places stress on electronic components making the electronics less dependable and more susceptible to failure. Plus, the circuit board's performance can be affected by heat transfer from high grain temperatures. Also, present moisture sensors have limited accuracy typically operating at 2 MHz and are grounded to a tube of steel. Finally, if a component in the moisture sensor fails the entire sensor must be discarded. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a moisture sensor that addresses these deficiencies.
Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a moisture sensor that is more dependable.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a moisture sensor with improved performance and accuracy.
A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a moisture sensor where components can be replaced without replacing the entire moisture sensor.
These and other objectives will be apparent to one skilled in the art based upon the following written description, drawings, and claims.